Known among friends and colleagues as T.C., Tom Constanten studied music at University of California, Berkeley, where he met Phil Lesh. He and Lesh studied composition with Luciano Berio, the Italian modernist composer, and both were influenced by Mahler. Constanten also studied piano with Mario Feninger. In 1967, after graduation, Constanten went to Europe to study with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez.
In 1964 in San Francisco, Constanten performed with an improvisational quintet formed by Steve Reich, who went on to become an important minimalist composer. The group's unusual style was influenced by both jazz and the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. In a 1964 performance, the ensemble played compositions by both Constanten and Phil Lesh, at which minimalist composer Terry Riley walked out, but later he was willing to have this ensemble perform his well-received piece In C. However, only Reich and one other member of group, saxophonist-composer Jon Gibson, appeared in the piece's premier performance.
Constanten was adopted as the seventh member of the Grateful Dead during the recording of the band's second album, Anthem Of the Sun (Warner Brothers, 1968). The pianist was a child prodigy who wrote orchestral pieces as a teenager while growing up in Las Vegas. In the summer of 1961, TC met Dead bassist Phil Lesh at Berkeley, where each professed a love for classical music. The two became roommates and enrolled in a graduate-level course taught by Berio at Mills College in Oakland. Constanten joined the Air Force in 1965 and was a sergeant stationed in Denver who specialized in computers when the Dead enlisted him to record Anthem Of the Sun with them during his weekend leaves. When he was selected as Airman of the Month, Constanten used the three-day pass to record with the band. The day after an honorable discharge, TC made his stage debut with the Dead on November 23, 1968 at the Memorial Auditorium in Athens, Ohio. He remained with the group for three albums and left after the band's infamous New Orleans bust following a January 30, 1970 show at the Warehouse. "It was like a magic carpet ride that was there for me to step on," he says. "I would have been a fool not to."
In 1994, he was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the group, Grateful Dead.
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Dark Star
Tom Constanten Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Reason tatters, the forces tear loose from the axis.
Searchlight casting for faults in the clouds of delusion.
Shall we go, you and I while we can
Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?
Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter.
Glass hand dissolving to ice petal flowers revolving.
Shall we go, you and I while we can
Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?
The lyrics of Tom Constanten's song Dark Star describe a sense of chaos and destruction, with the "dark star" crashing and pouring its light into ashes. Reason is represented as being torn apart from its axis, indicating that logic and rationality are losing their grip, and the searchlight is casting for faults in the clouds of delusion, suggesting that people are struggling to distinguish between what is real and what is not. The chorus, "Shall we go, you and I while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?" gives a sense of urgency - that we should take action while we still have the chance, even if it means entering the unknown.
The second half of the song continues the theme of dissolution and transformation, with the image of a mirror shattering, representing the breaking apart of one's self-image, and the "glass hand" dissolving into "ice petal flowers revolving", suggesting a loss of solid form and a shifting of identity. The lady in velvet represents an unattainable or fleeting ideal, who recedes into the "nights of goodbye", indicating that the loss or ending of something is imminent.
Line by Line Meaning
Dark star crashes, pouring its light into ashes.
A metaphorical reference to how a star collapses, leading to its light getting trapped under debris.
Reason tatters, the forces tear loose from the axis.
The forces that govern reason become weak and futile, leading to chaos.
Searchlight casting for faults in the clouds of delusion.
The search for truth amidst the deceptive smoke of lies, leading to disillusionment.
Shall we go, you and I while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?
An invitation to journey through the surreal experiences of life.
Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter.
The reflection in the mirror becomes insignificant as matter assumes different forms.
Glass hand dissolving to ice petal flowers revolving.
A representation of how something beautiful can disintegrate into something fragile.
Lady in velvet recedes in the nights of goodbye.
A melancholic reference to the loss of a loved one and the pain of letting go.
Shall we go, you and I while we can Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?
An invitation to journey through the surreal experiences of life.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Jerome J. Garcia, Michael S. Hart, Robert C. Hunter, William Kreutzmann, Philip Lesh, Ronald Charles McKernan, Robert Hall Weir
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Michael Hampson
Had the supreme honour of meeting Tom at a show in hamilton he played called dead ahead with david nelson and steve kimmock and barry...whew powerful night-saw them the next evening in toronto-he was charming and powerfully elegant.
Clearly Now
What a treat. He should have played with the symphony as well as a good drummer to do the GD honor.
Jk
I got invited to a party that Tom was supposed to attend and I have always regretted not being able to go!
Carola Rost-Maskawy
AWESOME - and very cool! Thank you!
Glenn Hall
This is too cool. Thanks for upping it. TC is just amazing.
Do you have any of him doing Samba in the Rain?
That was a joke. Ditto to what How Brown said below --- I wish TC had never left the band.
James Leonard
Tom and Donna Jean really should be there in July for the last show
Jeff Ellis
Absolutely and totally agree. Bruce Hornsby too.
How Brown
Fine musician....and two different colored socks on. Wish he never left the band.
Just Say Know
He had the same teacher as Phil Lesh! He is a classically trained pianist and the teacher was Luciano Berio. 😀
tlmcelroy
Excellent.